Every four years, a sacrifice was made to the yokai as a way to keep them from harming the village that was built by the end of the mountain that they rested on.
The poor part of the village was frightened for their children, laying low hoping that their own wouldn't be picked as an offering to save the village, while the richer part of the village payed to keep their children alive.
Cries echoed through the neighbourhood caused by the victim's families every time they were picked. Those who tried to intervene were thrown in prison, or worse, beaten until they are in the verge of death. The people who supported village chief snickered and laughed, degrading the families who tried to go against it.
Last sacrificed, was her sister, Kanae. Their mother begged and pleaded with the chief for her children to be spared, her father who tried his best to defend her mother, was beaten till he was bedridden.
"Shinobu, don't cry. Even when we are not together, I'll still be with you." She sat on her sister's lap, her face resting against her shoulders while her tears started to soaked her sister's wedding kimono.
"It's not fair, why does it have to be you, Kanae. Why can't it be anyone else? Why you?" Shinobu sobbed, her tiny fingers hooked on the her sister's clothes. Kanae tried to smile for her but deep down she knew it would only hurt her more.
"I do not know Shinobu, nor do I dare to ask, but this is how it must be. You'll be fine Shinobu, and so will I." Kanae wiped away her sister's tears, and gently kissed her on her forehead.
"Kanae Kochou, it's time for you to leave." A maid sent by Muzan came in to take her away. Their mother was seen peaking in through the cracks in the door.
Kanae looked back at her sister before gently prying her sister's hands away.
She whispered "Take care of our mother and father, alright? Be a good girl now Shinobu. Remember that I'll always love you."
"Don't go... sister." Shinobu begged, trying to reach out for her sister but Kanae just turned her back away before walking out the door. "...please."
Her mother suddenly stood in the door way blocking Kanae's path.
"Mother... I'm sorry." She apologised, bowing her head.
"There's nothing for you to apologise. I should be the one to do so." Said her mother with tears streaming down her face. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you escape from this my girl, if we had been richer, I could pay them for you to not fall a victim. I'm truly sorry..."
She opened her arms before holding her first born tightly. Eighteen years they only had together. It felt like yesterday that her child was only just a new born.
Kanae could only hugged her mother tight, her tears clouded her vision. This will the last time she will see her family, who knows if they'll ever see each other again. She had a feeling that she shouldn't hope.
With that she took off with the maid in a carriage, never to be seen again.
After that, the life of Kochou's family fell down hill. Her father contracted an infection from an unknown source, causing him to lose his life. Her mother took his death so hard that she died of a broken heart a couple of months later, leaving Shinobu an orphan.
Her mother's friend took pity on her and took her in until Shinobu asked if she could move back to her family's home.
For four long years, Shinobu thought the villagers could forget about her so she could live in peace, but that was a wish that would never be granted.
Everywhere she went, whispers filled her ears, while pitied glances were sent her way, sending her into a feeling of discontent.
She despised their fake sympathy and their nosiness. Before, she was just another girl born into their village, no one spared her glance, much less a thought and that's how she always liked it.
She could feel the salesman's eyes burned a hole on her head while she bend down, observing the colourful flowers in-front of her.
"They are beautiful aren't they?" The salesman's suddenly asked. Shinobu nodded in response, giving him a small smile. Just because she disliked some of these people, doesn't mean there aren't any people who doesn't annoy her.
"They are, you grew them well." The man stood proudly.
"Thank you young lady, but I couldn't take all the credits, my wife did all the work." He let out a chuckle, his grin widened as he praised his wife.
"Well, tell your wife that these flowers are lovely, and I see you have white chrysanthemums, could I have two sets of seven, if that is alright?" She asked, shrugging off the love-struck man, sloughing her basket off her arm to look for her coin pouch.
He nodded then gently picked out the flowers to wrap them. He whistled as he worked, carefully picked out the excess leaves.
He stopped as he realised that Shinobu was carefully listening to some people behind her gossiping.
"People shall talk." She jumped at the sound of his voice, his soft spoken voice disappeared, replaced by a stern voice.
"They shall, but still, I'm quite curious to see what they come up with some time." She let out a faint chuckle, although her smile couldn't fool the older man.
"If you continue to be quiet, this situation will get worse. If this was about me, I'll make it known who they should not be messing with." He crossed his arms while glaring at the gossiping group, who noticed and ran away at first glance.
"It's been a few years, I'm getting used to it.". She waved him off.
"-Getting used to what?" Another voice chimed in, their voice filled with worries and curiosity.
Shinobu smiled as she turned around. "Aoi!" She waved her closer. Her hand tugging on the younger girl's arm, pulling her to the flower stall.
Aoi, the daughter of her mother's friend. They have been close since childhood, being almost two years younger than her, Kanae and Shinobu saw her as their little sister.
"The more time she spends with you, the more she started to act like you." Kanae once said. Shinobu chuckled at the memory.
"So, what were you two talking about?" Aoi asked, concerned written all over her face, Shinobu gave her little smile, although Aoi wasn't persuaded just because Shinobu simply lifted the corner of her lips. She glanced at the salesman, who was finishing packing the flowers.
The man refused to meet her eyes, Aoi sighed in frustration.
"I know what this is about, people do talk too much, don't they?" She rolled her eyes in annoyance, while Shinobu giggles filled her ears.
"Sometimes, people need to learn how to keep their mouths shut, I know Aoi." The older girl agreed, she reached for the flowers that the salesman handed her and gently placed them on the inside of her elbow. She placed the coins in his outstretched hand in return.
"Thank you for purchasing my flowers again, young lady." The man gave her a big smile, before waving them off.
"She's going to get taken for sure."
"Our new sacrifice..."
"It's a pity her parents aren't here to help her."
"What happened to Kanae-"
"That poor girl."
"It's almost time for the selection. I wonder what the village chief is planning."
"Who is he going to choose?"
"Shinobu Kochou."
"Don't listen to them Aoi, just ignore them like I did." Shinobu caught the younger girl glaring at the people surrounding them.
"It's not fair. They've been keeping this up for years, it's like they're secretly praying for your down fall." She sneered.
My downfall, huh?
Hours gone by, she bid Aoi goodbye as the sun was meeting the end of the horizon. A sense of dread suddenly struck her as she was settling into her home.
"Welcome back, Ms. Kochou." She gasped when she saw a tall figure standing in the middle of her living room, his back facing her and his eyes was captured by her father's painting hanging on the wall.
"Mr. Kibutsuji." Her jaw immediately tightened, spat out his name.
"No need to be alarm, I'm not here to hurt you." His eyes still hadn't turned her way.
"Blue spider lilies." He pointed towards the painting. "Aren't they beautiful? People say that blue spider lilies are just a myth, a flower made up by our ancestors."
His red eyes finally met hers, he smiled, though it felt insincere. "I do not believe them however-"
"What are you doing in my home, Mr. Kibutsuji?" She interrupted his sentence, she clenched her fists and frowned. Muzan looked at her in genuine surprise.
"Well, this is the first time someone like you interrupted my speech."
"You're here to tell me that you have chosen me as a sacrifice, aren't you?" She asked, causing the man before her to laughed.
"You're quite clever, you're definitely your parent's child alright." He clapped his hand in mockery.
"Yes I'm here to tell you that, I thought I'll personally delivered the news myself, Douma had asked if he could but I don't trust that bastard to not... how should I say this? Mess with your body before I could sent you off?"
"How kind of you, chief." She rolled her eyes, though she was glad she didn't have to deal with Douma in this moment.
He walked towards her and bent down to reach her ears. "I'm not here to ask you if you want to sacrifice yourself for the best of the village so I'll make this quick; in two days from now, I'll sent you a few maids to get you ready and a carriage to take you away. Of course you'll know this already since the last sacrifice. If you dare tried to escape, my henchmen will find you and drag you back. Dead or alive. Understood?"
He chuckled then walked towards the door, Shinobu didn't dared turn to look at him so she continued to stare at the floor.
"Oh, if you'll ever see your sister, tell her I sent her best regards ." Her door shut with a slam, knowing she was now alone again, she fell to the floor in helplessness. She was too tired to move, much less to cry. She just sat there, surrounded by the emptiness of her home.
Shinobu didn't bother to ran to protest, why would she? Her family are gone, her reasons to live are gone. Everyday, she spent her day alone, reading books in her home, tends to her garden and only go out if she needed supplies for her house or if Aoi came to drag her away.
The emptiness of her heart's stopping her to live peacefully.
A forceful tap on her shoulders forced her to come out of her trance. She looked up to see one of the maids glaring at her.
"If you keep swaying left to right, you'll ruin all our hard work." She scolded her. Shinobu muttered an apology before looking straight ahead again. She observed herself in the mirror's reflection.
Her face was pale white, and her lips were painted red, clashing against the purple highlights in her hair. Her face felt heavy from all the paint on her face, causing her head to dip down.
The maid from before violently pushed her face up to face the mirror as the other maids finished with her hair.
"I look ridiculous." She said to herself after the maids left her room. A faint sadness started to overwhelm her bit by bit. Tears started to clouded her vision.
Suddenly, a knock came from the door and Aoi poked her head inside. Shinobu smiled at the sight of her dear friend.
"I hope I didn't interrupt anything." Aoi walked towards her. "You look beautiful." Shinobu let out a giggle, knowing that Aoi only complimented her to make her feel better.
"Ridiculous, more like. You don't have to lie Aoi, I won't be mad." Shinobu waved her hands, guiding the younger girl to her. Shinobu placed her right hand on Aoi's head.
"Be good while I'm gone alright?" Aoi didn't say anything but knelt down to hug Shinobu's knees.
"I'm going to missed you, a lot. More than you know."
"I'm going to missed you too." They both hugged each other, Shinobu could feel Aoi's tears dampening her kimono.
Their hugged didn't last very long as the head maid came to escort her to the carriage. When they reached the outside, they bid their last farewell before Aoi walked back home. Shinobu could only watched as the girl that had been by her side for a long time, slowly disappeared from her sight.
Goodbye, my dear friend. I wish you happiness, health and a long fulfilling life.
Goodbye, big sister. I hope we will see each other again someday. Thank you for being my friend.
She looked back at her home that was once filled with warmth and love, now cold and lonely.
Mother, father, wherever you are, please know that I'll be where Kanae is now. If she is still alive, I will find her. Rest well.
"Are you done reminiscing?" Douma walked up to her, grabbing her by her shoulders. Big grin plastered on his face.
She pulled away from his grip, staring daggers at him. "Don't touch me." She said, venom filled her voice. Douma only let out a chuckle as if her reaction to him was just a joke.
"You know..." the sight of his grin sent cold shivers down her spine "If you marry me, Master Muzan will find someone else to take your place." His eyes full of bad intentions. Looking at him just for one second is enough to give her migraine.
"No thank you, I would rather eat shit than marry you." She spat at him, before walking towards the carriage.
"You'll die up there!" He yelled after her, stopping her in her tracks.
She turned back around "So what? At least I will see my parents again and I can get away from you." With that she got into the carriage and the maid followed suit.
Douma could only watched the carriage took off in seething anger before heading back to where he came from.
Shinobu stared out the window, watching as the foot of the mountain came into her view. A large group of the villagers, stood watching as she arrived.
Gone was the whispers, they didn't try to hide it anymore. Not like she cared anyways.
She stepped out of the carriage, grabbing on to the head maid's hand as she tried to not get her legs tangled in the long wedding kimono.
A representative of Muzan Kibutsuji, known as Kokushibou. No one know his real name, more like too frightened to ask for his name, so they settled with what the villagers chief called him, but she heard he's a grandfather with two grandchildren, twins in fact.
"Are you ready?" He asked, his voice emptied.
"Yes." She said with no hesitation, he nodded and guided her to her starting point.
"From the moment you started your journey, you will no longer be part of this village, or be seen as a human being. You will be no one." He warned her. Despite being Muzan's right hand man. Shinobu never felt threatened by him. He was always just there. Only do things when Muzan asked. The only men who weren't there when they beaten her father that day.
Shinobu nodded, decided to not waste any time before she stepped up the mountain, she looked back at the him and the villagers one last time. The villagers all looked at her like they expected her to do some drastic, but she didn't.
She just headed forward and never looked back again.
"Good morning, my name's Tanjiro Kamado! Nice to meet you Ms, Kochou!"
Author's note:
Chapter 1 is done!! Yippeeeee. I planned for this chapter to have 2k words but I got a little more than that lol.
So yep, unlike the last version, Mr & Mrs. Kochou are dead. Whoops. I don't want to write about a lot of characters so I decided to get rid of a lot of them.
Instead of a random old man, I decided to give Muzan a little role in this story. He won't be a big threat nor will Douma and other upper moon demons. I know that they are a little out of character but I'm not really a big fan of those characters, cared about their personalities or their backstories and since their roles are so little, I weren't that bothered.
I would add a little background story between Douma and Shinobu but I felt it wasn't that necessary... sorry about that lol.
The only character we will see again is Aoi She's my second favourite kny girl so I gave her a bigger role than other background characters.
I don't have any beta reader so my work hasn't been proofread so they'll be some grammatical and spelling errors. I won't be bothered with editing it until I finish the story.
That's all I wanted to say! See you all next chapter.
-Khem